Scott Wykoff's Blog

Friday, March 13, 2015

1K The Right Way

It’s 1000 wins and counting for one of the best and brightest jockeys
to ever get a leg-up at Pimlico and Laurel.Sheldon Russell 1K!

The rider who always seem to have a smile on-his-face had a
smile a furlong-wide when he guided Shayjolie to the wire winning in
the $100,000 Cat Cay Stakes at Aqueduct for his 1000th win. And if it wasn’t for Mother Nature, who
knows, that win might have come at Laurel Park!

What a ride it has been for the popular jockey who won had his first career win in July 2005
at Catterick, England, and who despite his accent, is a proud Louisiana
native. It’s been a pretty productive 10 years for Sheldon to say the least.

Born in Bossier City, Louisiana, Russell was raised in South
Africa and rode his first race at Wolverhampton, England when he was 18. After
riding in approximately 60 races in England, Russell came to the U.S. to become
an exercise rider at trainer Michael Dickinson’s Tapeta Farm here in the
Maryland.It runs in the Russell family. His father Dean was a jockey
who rode in England, South Africa and Germany.“It’s a great achievement, considering all the injuries and
broken bones along the journey,” said Russell as he was approaching the
milestone. “It’s a huge milestone.”I guess so.

You would be hard pressed to find a nicer person (not to
mention a better horseman) at the track or along the backstretch than Sheldon “1K”
Russell. Hey, is there a nickname there for the 28 year old?

This blogger remembers how cool it was to hang-out with
Sheldon by-the-rail after he rode Done Talking to a win in the Illinois Derby and
as he prepared for his “bucket list” ride of a lifetime on the Hammy Smith-trained
horse in the 2012 Kentucky Derby.

That was coming off a pretty impressive 2011 when he was the
leading rider at all three Maryland meets. Not to mention his back-to-back 2nd
place finishes in the 2012 and 2013 rider standings at Pimlico and Laurel.

In addition to his 1000 wins, Sheldon has worked some pretty
good horses in his day.He rode Street
Sense in the mornings at the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida and was a
guest of assistant trainer Ian Wilkes at Churchill Downs when the colt won the
2007 Kentucky Derby.And as you can tell from some of these great photos by my friend Jim McCue, Sheldon (above with his friend Forest Boyce ) has always been ready and willing to have some fun and pose for a shot that might help bring some publicity to the racing game in Maryland.

Maryland racing
fans have been nice enough to share Sheldon in recent years with racing fans in
Illinois, New York and Louisiana as he is one of the most in-demand riders in
the business.\Here’s to another
1000 wins for Sheldon Russell and hoping we’ll be lucky enough here at Pimlico
and Laurel to be along for the ride like we were for so many of his first 1K!